Concrete furniture the new French chic

Concrete has "an image problem. It's hard to shake off its image for being grey and bulky", said Catherine Alcocer, communications director for Cimbeton, one of the professional bodies representing the French cement industry.

But in the last few years "its use by designers has given it a greater dignity," she said, adding it was "taking on a completely different dimension in people's minds".

Concrete's greatest handicap is obviously its weight. But thanks to technical advancements, adding resins to the traditional mix of sand, cement, water and gravel has enabled the creation of a lighter material which can be more easily moulded into finer structures.

Designers were showing off some of their creations including innovative tables, chairs and shelves at the Paris Furniture Salon which closed on Monday.

Lightening up

Many of the designs are made with "ultra high-performance, fibered concrete", said designer Francesco Passaniti, who has been working in concrete for the past 15 years.

"You no longer need to add steel reinforcement, so it's less thick, and its weight becomes more manageable." He was exhibiting the first transportable concrete bath, weighing in at just 90kg (200lbs).

A chair, which would normally weigh some 300kg (660lbs) if cast in concrete, tips the scales at a mere 50kg (110lbs) thanks to a wooden structure which has been poured with a resin-mix mortar.

Concrete is also trying to shake off its reputation for greyness, by adding dyes to the mix, enabling Passaniti to offer clients a range of some 110 colours.

Different techniques for working the material means the surface can also be transformed to look like everything from crocodile skin to printed stone.

Black and studded with fibre optics, a silky, polished table top glitters with pin-points of light, perfect for brightening up an office or for giving dinner-guests something to talk about.

Marrying concrete with crystals

And in the bath room, why not try eucalyptus-scented concrete bath fittings?

Concrete can easily be married with other materials. Designer Pierre Gonalons has come up with a low table adorned with crystal decorations shaped into an eagle and a cock's head.

But for purists such as Thomas Buchner, whose order book exploded in 2005, "true concrete is beautiful and there is no point in transforming it into something false".

His armchair in traditional concrete weighs some 200kg (440lbs) but it has been set on wheels and can be easily re-assembled.

Designer concrete doesn't come cheap

Demand for concrete furniture is rising as more people get to hear of it, but usually, unlike in builders' yards, it doesn't come cheap, since most pieces are one-offs and made to order.

Prices range from a few hundred euros for a small piece of furniture to €4000 ($4750) for Buchner's armchair and €6000 for the sparkling table designed by Passaniti.

But Alcocer from Cimbeton believes demand will only grow, especially as concrete offers another advantage in today's market — that of being a natural material.

There has been a noticeable return to all things mineral, Alcocer said, and concrete brings this out "without using up non-renewable resources".

AFP

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